The Essential Camera app hit 50,000 downloads within the past few days. Last we heard about Essential sales figures of any sort, it was back in late September when a research firm estimated a measly 5,000 units had been sold within the month after release. If that figure is to be believed, it looks like the price drops did wonders for sales (two members of the AP team bought them on Cyber Monday), though 50,000 is still not very many phones sold within four months.

You might be wondering how we could come to the conclusion that the download figures for this app could lead to production figures. Well, the Essential Phone is the only phone that is capable of downloading the Essential Camera app via the Play Store, hence the assumption. The Play Store counts installs by the "(t)otal number of unique users who have ever installed this app on one or more of their devices. Only one install is counted per user, regardless of how many different devices they installed it on. Includes users who uninstalled the app later." Similar logic was used a couple of months back on the Pixel phones, and in that article, we stated that there were four reasons that the install figure could be even more inflated than actual sales figures:

Devices being resold and signed into by other accounts (this is probably the most common situation).

Developers using multiple accounts to test their apps out (more common than you might think).

Custom ROMs like LineageOS for other devices allowing non-Pixel devices to trick the Play Store.

Modders tweaking their build.props to get the Play Store to recognize their device as a Pixel (similar to above).

However, only the first two reasons listed above could realistically apply here. There's no reason for ROMs or people to trick the Play Store into thinking their phone is an Essential Phone to download the camera app, since it's not particularly useful on other devices. The development excuse is a slight possibility, though the resold devices factor is likely the biggest one here. It's also possible that people are immediately unlocking the bootloaders on these phones and installing ROMs like LineageOS, but I'm not sure if that's an especially common scenario given Essential's near-stock software and already-released Oreo beta. Even Ryne, who installs LineageOS on practically all of his Android devices, is still running stock Nougat.

It's worth noting that we aren't technically sure if a pre-installed app counts as a download in the Play Store's eyes if it's not updated, though Cody has noticed pre-installed apps showing up on his profile before any updates could even be installed. In any case, since the percentage of devices that are acquired and immediately having different ROMs flashed would be extremely low, there's virtually no chance that the 50k number is actually lower than the total number of PH-1s in consumer hands. Keep in mind that the Essential Camera automatically updates as soon as a Google account is connected on the phone, meaning that even if updates are required for a 'download' to count, the numbers lean in accuracy's favor.

At the end of the day, even in the unlikely event that sales figures are above 50,000 (which they wouldn't be by much), the Essential Phone still can't be considered a commercial success. Hopefully the new, lower MSRP of $499 and more discounts drive sales upwards, as more competition is better in this space. It'd be interesting to see what, if anything, Essential has in store for the PH-1's successor.

It's a brand new company with their first phone, it's going to take a little time to be a runaway success.

Anthony

True... I just figured since Andy, one of the founders of Google, would use his Clout and influence to market the phone better. Time will tell though.

Jmill75

Am I the only one who thinks that's not a terrible number for a start up that had a handful of launch issues. Not sold in carrier stores, Sprint doesn't count lol. Pretty sure Andy said this was more about getting a device out there. 2nd gen should he much better.

MJ

It's a horrible number! They were funded almost a billion dollars and investors can't be happy. I won't be surprised if Andy Rubin was found with a bullet in his head.

Nick

I can't find a source that says investors gave one billion dollars to Essential, the most I can find is around 400 million.

It's not known if Essential used up all their investment money (I'm leaning towards not because we usually would hear about these sort of things).

We also do not know what game investors are playing when they decided to invest. I think it's clear that Essential is just getting started and may provide better returns in the long run.

I'd say that 50k phones sold by a new company, even one ran by Andy Rubin, is a decent start in this over crowded market and it's a bit early to be over dramatic.

Valuation and amount invested of course differs. If they invest $50m to buy 10% of the company then the company would be valued at $500m..

Mar Celo

The investors thinking:

"We going to say that the company has a value of 1 billion , which will increase the hype around the phone and hopefully augment even more the price."

The same investors IF none of their money was at the company:

"The company value is 100 million."

PS: The 100 million in a concrete value. I used it just to illustrate that people will never tell the real value except if they have no relation with the "thing" they appraise. If they don't, the already invested/plan to invest/won't invest and all of them going to lie. At the example the value is coming from who already put money at the company, so it is 100% sure it is overpriced.

psiclone

The prinicple is very much the same as my house being valued at $X, until tax time, at which point it's valued at $X + Y%, but if I went to sell my house, it would only be valued at $X or $X - Y%. Funny how that works.

1. The 1 billion dollars was the valuation that investors put on the company. Their terrible sales are going to drastically affect that valuation next year.

2. Companies like Essential, very rarely disclose how much money they did or didn't spend until they release their end of year financial statements. You wouldn't hear about unless you had access to their reports.

3. Investors are playing one game when they decide to invest: the make money game.

4. Essential is just getting started but they are getting started in a very crowded market that is one of the hardest to crack. There won't be a long run if sales don't improve.

5. Andy Rubin's name isn't as strong as people seem to think, especially after the allegations against him. But even before that most average consumers have no clue who he is.

6. 50k phones sold isn't anything close to a decent start, especially for a phone that has so much invested in it.

To people who don't work in this industry 50k seems like a big number, it isn't. It is a very, very small number. Just in US there are about 230 million smartphone users. And that number grows every day. A "decent" start for Essential would have been around 200,000 units sold. Even that would be a relatively low number for a brand with $300 million in funding. But it would be a positive sign of potential growth. 50k is abysmal.

Luciano

That's to start up the company, not to fund one product. We don't know the amount of cash sunk on the devices, nor do we know the actual number of sales. But if 50,000 were true, I would agree that's horrible.

MJ

What other products do they sell?

Luciano

This is a first of a product line

MJ

I am sure they can another 50,000 units with their next phone. LOL

Peter Silie

Haters gonna hate!

David Martrano

I think the biggest problem with the ph-1 was the delay of it's release & the 699.00 asking price. If it came out at 499.00 it would have sold more than 50,000. A better strategy would have been welcomed & a better camera! The ph-2 should fare better. Still a decent phone for a new release & company!

h2oflyer

Buy one and tell us what's wrong with it.

MJ

What? We have another non-reader. It could be the best phone on the planet BUT it NOT selling so it is a failure. Sorry, I have no interest in the phone.

h2oflyer

Put your money where your mouth is and buy one....you can then tell us if it's the best phone on the planet (or not) instead of adding you opinion on business news, being the reader you are.

MJ

Are you trolling? Again, it's irrelevant how good you or I think the phone is. Personally, the phone doen't meet my criteria for consideration to buy but even if I bought 10 of them and it would still be a failure. Please don't reply again. Thanks.

h2oflyer

Who are you calling a troll... you're just spouting hatred for a new phone company... what's your problem...if you don't like the phone or the supposed failure of Essential get over it and move on.

MJ

Spouting hatred? I pointed out the investors must not be happy because they put up a lot of money and the phone is not selling well. It's called making a comment that is relevant to the article.

You are replying to me some nonsense that I need to buy the phone for some reason. Go away...

balcobomber25

He's not attacking the phone. He's attacking the business. You are having a really hard time separating the two. This has nothing to do with how good or bad the phone is.

No one is buying them. The phone could be amazing, people still aren't buying it for a number of reasons.

Lord Ravenor

Tech Crunch reported that Essential raised $300 million at a Series B Valuation just shy of $1 Billion.

The $1 Billion figure represents what investors currently think the company's worth over its existence, not the money it banked during its raise.

Rubin's investment outfit actually led the raise and he probably has skin in the game -- so it's hard to say whether they're unhappy or not -- but they've almost certainly got a longer horizon than Essential's maiden product. Ultimately, it depends on what Rubin's representations were to his co-investors. There was likely a range of outcomes they were willing to accept as a 'success' and for all we know, this scenario could be among them.

MJ

Even if we go with the the $300 million figure how could investors be happy? There only product was a total failure and they are certainly losing money.

Eric Grushinski

It's cute that you think the essential phone is a total failure. They have fixed many of the camera issues and are rolling out updates like hotcakes. Combine that with a stock Android experience, a beautiful screen, 128gb of storage, attachable accessories, a monochrome camera, and plenty of other great features.

MJ

I think? It's the sales figures that are spelling failure. Wow! They fix bugs on their phones? What other great features? Part of the display missing?

QuantumFoam

I've got a Moto X Pure that's still sitting on the Dec. 2016 update. I've got a OnePlus 3 that gets updated , but still isn't on Oreo. I get an Essential update at least once a month with the current security patch and fixes. And it got their Oreo beta last month. My big luxury once a year is a new phone, and if they improve the Essential, I know where I'm going. I think part of the delays in initial release were to make sure they could support that kind of cycle.

Powsniffer0110

So you're running the Oreo beta on essential but NOT the OnePlus 3?! Strange.... The OP3 Oreo is really good and stable. OnePlus has updated the OP3/T more than any other phone! And the PH-1 from Essential has been out what.. 2 months? How can you actually TRY to compare the PH-1 and OP3 on updates?! Funny and ridiculous.

QuantumFoam

Hi, I'm an adult trying to have a discussion. Stop throwing adjectives at me.I don't have SIM cards in the Moto X or the OnePlus 3. The Moto forum official response said I didn't need one. I think they're wrong, but I'm on call 24x7, so I can't just swap the SIM around.I need to sleep so good night/morning depending on time zone. And if you want to know the release date of the phone (any phone) try Google. It's very useful.

Troy Hoffman

Beta 2 is now out. :)

Ron Josiah

And yet as the man just said, it is a total failure! The market is saturated and Essential will be another HTC, abysmal and embarrassing losses every quarter! Except HTC might actually survive, can't say the same for Essential.

h2oflyer

The Essential phone Co. may end up being a failure, but the phone itself is not a failure. It's better than most flagships out there, especially any HTC !

How many so called flagships have the Dec security patch along with 128 gb storage. I'll wait to see your list.

balcobomber25

This isn't about the phone, it's about the company.

Also the Mi Mix 2 has 128GB and the Dec patch.

h2oflyer

You're right about the MiMix... I don't see a lot of hate for that phone other than the usual China bashing.

balcobomber25

There's really not a lot to hate on, without the original Mi Mix, Essential would probably have a completely different look. Xiaomi completely change the game with the first Mix phone and kicked off the bezeless trend. There were other from Sharp before them but Xiaomi was the one to bring it to the mainstream.

balcobomber25

They aren't even close to HTC, which itself is a disaster. HTC sells more than 50,000 in one country.

balcobomber25

It's cute that you completely ignore the sales numbers that suggest Essential is a total failure.

This has nothing to do with the actual phone, it has to do with consumers not investing in the phone in great numbers. That is why they are a failure.

blueman24

So McLaren sold 50k cars compared to VWs 500k. Obviously McLaren is a "total failure"
/s

balcobomber25

So a car is now the same as a phone? Completely different industry's buddy. Your comment is a "total failure".

Troy Hoffman

A successful product is one that meets or exceeds the sales target. 50,000 iPhones would be a failure because Apple expects many more to sell. 50,000 phones for a new phone with a new brand by a new company could very well be a success if the company was projecting to sell 25,000 by now.

psiclone

None of that compels me to spend as much as I would on a Samsung, something that's been out there for a while, and for the most part has proven itself. I don't think my S6 Edge is the perfect phone, but it's damn good.

renGek

The same way uber, tesla and many more loses millions every quarter and investors are still ok

h2oflyer

You would still be using a couple of soup cans and a string if it wasn't for innovators. What do you invest in ?

MJ

Uber? Actually investors are upset with it's performance AND the way the company is being run. Telsa is more a long term investment/project and can't be compared to a mere phone. The Essential phone isn't changing the game or doing anything new. It's a phone and it needs to sell to be successful.

balcobomber25

There is a huge difference with the examples you are using. Both of those companies have a product that actually sells and people are interested in. Essential does not.

Troy Hoffman

Every startup bleeds money at first and this product is only a total failure if the investors were expecting 500,000 sales by now. They weren't. Sure, it's not selling like an iPhone, but considering it's a new brand, 50,000 isn't bad. People will be looking at the frequency of updates and long term quality when the PH-2 comes out, which would be the true test of the company.

Mar Celo

The investors thinking:

"We going to say that the company has a value of 1 billion , which will increase the hype around the phone and hopefully augment even more the price."

The same investors IF none of their money was at the company:

"The company value is 100 million."

balcobomber25

If the company value sinks to $100 million, Essential will be out of business.

balcobomber25

"There was likely a range of outcomes they were willing to accept as a 'success' and for all we know, this scenario could be among them."

Investors won't accept a measly 50,000 units as a success. For people who don't work in the smartphone industry that seems like a big number. Anyone connected to the industry, myself included, knows that is a terrible number.

No one heard of Essential or saw their phones in person, there's no way they would have sold tons of them. It's more about starting up the brand than to immediately have a breakthrough success.

MJ

OK...

Ken Mitchell

Oh, I _WANTED_ one just based on the interview with Andy Rubin and Walt Mossberg. I couldn't QUITE justify it at $700, but at $399 WITH the camera, I couldn't pass that up.

Don Goncalves

Same here. Was it really a waiting the essential but the whole camera issue just turn me off from it. Would love to have waited for a Gen 2 but just couldn't keep my Moto Turbo going for another year. Sorry Essential. Hope to see you at Gen 3

balcobomber25

The problem is when you have $300 million in outside investments you need the phone to be a breakthrough success. If something doesn't drastically change in the next few months, Essential won't have a chance for a follow up.

webdev452

Andy's business plan was something like the Underpants Gnomes business plan on Southpark:
1. Sell janky flawed phone for a flagship price based on my reputation.
2. ????
3. Profit!

And like the gnomes, #3 never happened.....

balcobomber25

That is one of the failures that Essential had, poor marketing and poor communication about their devices.

Yeah I don't know what's the deal with AP for this.
OnePlus had planned 50k sales and did much better but they launched on a market that needed cheap flagships sold "worldwide".

What tells us that Essential didn't plan to do 50k sales on this saturated market.

Barbara

Google is paying 97$ per hour,with weekly payouts.You can also avail this.
On tuesday I got a brand new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $11752 this last four weeks..with-out any doubt it's the most-comfortable job I have ever done .. It Sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
fb354d:
➽➽
➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleHomeCashJobsCafeOpportunity/earn/hourly... ★✫★★✫★✫★★✫★✫★★✫★✫★★✫★✫★★✫★✫★★✫★✫★★✫★✫★★✫★✫★★✫★✫★★✫★✫:::::fb354lhhhh

If Carl Pei said it, it's probably a lie especially if he said it before it launched.

But OnePlus is a little different for a few reasons:

1. They weren't a true startup, at the time they were completely owned by OPPO, one of the largest phone companies in China. They didn't have to rely on much for outside investments.

2. Outside investments means you can't have 50,000 sales if you want to keep those investments.

3. OnePlus launched in 2014, the industry was in a completely different place then.

4. OnePlus didn't have a $1 billion valuation from the start.

Essential has no ties (not including investments) to any of the major smartphone companies, they can't afford for their first phone to be a complete flop. OnePlus could have, but never had to.

istian

Andy Ruben straight up came out and said sales numbers doesn't mean shit on the first relesse for this phone and neither does their investment dollar. They already laid the groundwork for everything else that matters in a great products future, the specs/issues are up next.

balcobomber25

Andy Ruben can say whatever he wants, when you have hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, sales numbers are the only thing that matters.

Troy Hoffman

Sales numbers of the first product launched definitely matter, but it's not the raw number that matters. What matters is if they were significantly different than the projections when they invested.

If the investors were expecting 500,000 sales by now, then 50,000 is a major problem.

If they were expecting 25,000, then 50,000 is amazing.

It's all about what the investors are expecting.

stiki_fingkaz

Of course it's a terrible number. It's an absolutely pathetic number, and to be fair, the phone is so bad it wasn't worth more.

4Ui812

Second get will be much better

balcobomber25

If there is a second gen.

exadeci

The company has been valuated over a billion and they have the personal resources

balcobomber25

Their valuation will drop significantly if these sales numbers are correct.

Troy Hoffman

No. They care about actual sales vs. projections. We don't know what they told the investors to expect. 50,000 could be on target, which means the investors won't be scared off.

4Ui812

There will be

Alien Being

There is!! Its in the works now.

blindexecutioner

I think it is better than the estimated number of Pixel phones that have sold by Google.

balcobomber25

Google will sell over 1 million pixels.

[M]

Let's just hope this won't discourage them to make the second generation.

webdev452

It depends on what their investors think. I think they would be smart to sell the company and cut their losses. 50000 is still really really bad, and considering the fire sale that will make the investors more likely to sell.

disastrousrainbow

Well this 45 other people who think like you, so no, but it's still not a great number. I mean, even if all 50,000 were sold at full price (which they more than likely weren't) that's still not a great return. I can see them still coming out with a successor, but honestly this whole thing is giving me Palm Pre vibes.

balcobomber25

That is terrible for any phone, even a startup. 50,000 is less than no name Chinese knockoff phones sell. A startup with over 1 billion in financing that only sells 50,000 units is one of the biggest failures in this industry.

For someone who has no experience with the smartphone industry, 50,000 probably sounds like a pretty big number. People who work in this industry know that is a complete failure. You would have to add another 0 onto that number for it to be considered a success.

SomeGuy112

How fast does the playstore update download milestones? Right when the last download is done to reach the milestone or does it take weeks/months for the playstore to update the download count?

Aaron

I would have joined the ranks of the 50,000 if there had been enough bezel across the top for a semi rugged case to be available. I know people must love these edge to edge, front to back glass slabs that are dominating the market right now, but I can't be in a minority so small that there isn't money to be made in attractive phones with high end internals and a more durable build.

Defenestratus

Don't drop your phone. Duh.

Aaron

I live and work in the outside, bruh. Pockets aren't dangerproof.

Semianonymous

Killer advice. You should sell insurance.
"This package is the best deal but honestly? You don't need it--just don't get sick"

Semianonymous

Idk what specific work you do, but I run a pet food warehouse and my S8/Note 8 have held up amazingly well against the abuse and they both rock Rhino Shield bumpers, no real case, so I'd think that if you set it up in a real case they'd probably be alright.

Aaron

I work on an ocean going ATB. Every surface is steel and lots of tight corners and confined spaces. Put a nice dent in the back of my 6p using a Spigen TPU case while in my pocket and never knew exactly when. Just incidental contact at some point during my day. If it had been a glass back it would have shattered. Some would probably say that I should just leave my phone somewhere safe while I'm working, but that doesn't exactly work as I'm only in service range while at the dock. If I want to be in touch with my family for the 3 weeks I'm at work, I need my phone. Not a common scenario, for sure, but I'm sure there are more than a few people that need access to smartphones while somewhere that isn't ideal for that phone's safety.

Pretty much. It jumped from 5,000 to 10,000 when they dropped the price to $500. The Sprint deal pushed them to 50K.

Zorn85

Surprised no one else has mentioned this. If the Cyber Monday $399 deal was "incredible", then getting the phone for $145 all-in from Sprint was magic. Given how easy it was to do, they had to move tens of thousands at that price.

TT E

If Essential people hit their internal target numbers, I am OK with 50K. It's a very competitive industry to break in. I am sure Andy Rubin and his investors were full aware of it. Excellent phone, it'll get better as it gets updated. At this time Oreo OTA, another camera update and Apt X HD are the only updates I care about. Keep up the good work guys!

I'm in that first exception group. I owned the phone for two weeks and kept it up to date through the play store. Ended up returning it because even though I loved the design and software, despite everything I tried, I couldn't get passed the poor camera quality.

NinoBr0wn

It was that bad even after the updates?

John Bush

Not that I was ever satisfied with. I have a Pixel 2 and Nexus 5x in my house and no matter the setting, the Essential was always in last. Granted I returned it on Nov 27th, so I didn't get the most recent update, but I wasn't willing to hang onto the phone with such sub-par detail and quality.

NinoBr0wn

True. I've never seen any images myself, but all I hear is how lackluster it is.

370gt

that would also include all the demo units out there that are live, which seem to be in almost every Telus, Bell and Rogers store that I go into. Not sure what the demo rate of it is in the US.

Yury H

Every Sprint store I've been to had them. If they were on T-Mobile I'd give it a try but...

lordmerovingian

It's an unlocked phone that also works on T-Mobile.

Yury H

Not on Jump On Demand thought /:

lordmerovingian

I don't understand why it won't specifically work on Jump On Demand. Isn't it a matter of getting the PH-1 and popping in your existing T-Mobile SIM?

Yury H

It is not available for me to "Jump" to from a different phone. Jump On Demand allows me to try a new phone every 30 days.

Rony

Only Telus sell them in canada. So no Rogers, Bell and so. I guess you look at some different phones then

h2oflyer

Just more BS from another hater. Trying to deflate the sales number pretending to go into Rogers and Bell stores and seeing demo Essential phones.

This is typical of the ignorant posters caught in their own lies. Same goes for whomever upvoted this BS.

southerndinner

Doesn't need to be deflated, the thing is already deflated itself

h2oflyer

Pathetic that you can't come up with anything original, just follow the trend like a little puppy

370gt

My mistake, Telus and all their retail partners ( Best buy and other local resellers)

h2oflyer

Just trying to be part of the hate crowd and seeing demo units in Rogers and Bell stores that don't carry the Essential. Pathetic attempt and typical of most anti Essential BS.

370gt

Butt hurt much? Sorry my mistake that it's in all Telus stores and their retail partners (best buy, etc etc). Who said I'm anti essential? Because I called out the wrong math? Relax dude. It's not my fault the phone didn't sell.

h2oflyer

It's not your fault the phone isn't selling or that you have a problem with fictional math. You reported on seeing the Essential demo units in Rogers and Bell stores , and that ain't so, dude. Nothing to do with retail partners either.

Francisco Franco

Even so, and with some quick napkin math, and this is revenue, not profit, with 50k units sold at an average of $500 per unit that's roughly 25M in revenue, which isn't THAT bad. After components cost and operational costs, if that nets 10M profit it's not horrible.
When One Plus started their initial goal was to sell 30k units (which I believe would be a break-even situation) so this isn't too farfetched. OP ended up selling more than 1 million One Plus One devices, but they weren't counting on it, which is why they used the dreadful invite system, to control their supply.

That said, I think the actual number is probably closer to 100k than it is to 50k, I don't think the Play Store numbers aren't that legit, for example the OnePlus Gallery only shows a measly 50k downloads in the store, yet, every OP device ships with it and they've sold a shit ton of them (for example the launcher has been "downloaded" more than 1M times according to the Play Store).

Good_Ole_Pinocchio

Bro you're making up Essential Numbers. There's no way they're making a profit off the PH1.

Francisco Franco

"After components cost and operational costs, if that nets 10M profit it's not horrible.". Of course that's made up, I don't know their costs. I'm sure they make a profit for each sold phone, otherwise they wouldn't sell them, a business is a business, selling at a cost would be retarded.

stiki_fingkaz

What a retarded logic

stiki_fingkaz

So if you set up a factory and sell 100 phones, you will still claim you made profit from those 100 phones?

Matt

Starting a business costs money. They may be making enough per phone to recoup the cost of making one phone, but I doubt they're making enough to make up all the startup costs.

Cory S

Just because you are selling products doesn't mean you are making money on them. Sometimes you have to spend money to get a foothold in the market. Back in the day Nvidia sold flagship GPU at a 50 dollar loss just to keep ATi down.

LevizX

How stupid are you? HTC LG are losing money, and they sell way more than Essential plus more products to spread some costs.

Francois Roy

.. But just like OnePlus, Essential has no big structure, no marketing costs, no supply chain to support, and a very limited payroll. A few hundred people in the New York HQ, and that's about it.

makapav

HTC and LG are losing a lot of their money due to marketing costs and the 25 models with minor variations they need to support globally not to mention all the skinning code.

David Martrano

Since when do LG & HTC have marketing costs. Hasn't that been there major failure of the past? God forbid if they ever had any kind of marketing! When is the last time you saw HTC or LG in a TV commercial?

Rick Anderson

I guarantee he's smarter than you.

h4rr4r

HTC has a lot more overhead.

QuantumFoam

See, as soon as you start on the insults, you give us the impression that you're an angry 12 year old. And we stop listening. Please don't.

MadMartigan

Calling the dev of Franco Kernel "stupid" is also a good indicator...

Francisco Franco

I'm certainly not stupid, but thanks for asking.

HTC and LG are monsters, they have thousands upon thousands of employees on their mobile divisions. They work on dozens of models per-year, and only 2-3 max are flagships. They spend millions on marketing, manufacturing, supply chain, partners, etc. They waste so much money that their revenue from sells isn't enough to break even. Besides, they don't sell as much as you think they do.

stiki_fingkaz

Lol at your calculations.

balcobomber25

Without knowing Essential actual costs there is no way of knowing their profit or loss on this.

Maybe they should've called this phone company Unnecessary and the phone the Unnecessary N1 (None).

Next headlines:
Investors Take Leave of Absence from Essential
Andy Rubin to Take Leave of Absence for *ing Investors With Dumb Idea

Good_Ole_Pinocchio

I don't really care what it sells. As long as it's enough to have a PH-2, and as long as the Alpha testers keep testing...I'm happy.

Marty

Rubin’s going to have to do a better job reading the market than he’s done so far.

EarlyMon

Perhaps.

If it didn't have the notch it would certainly have spared us the complaining comments - but I don't know if it would have led to a single sale.

If it kept the headphone jack it would have reversed the controversy. Would net sales have increased? I don't know. Some would have liked it, others would have called it out of date.

Janky response and camera complaints at launch are rookie mistakes.

The one constant that stood out for me during prerelease was, FU Andy the market is too crowded, {insert fan favorite} already has you beat!

And what market are we talking about? If you mean the market supplying talent and investors, he seems to have done ok and all the next step required was a showing, and he got that.

If you mean us, we'll see. For every "excited and waiting for the PH-2" comment today I predict that when it happens we'll get at least the same number saying, "I wasn't dumb enough to buy the first one and I know better than to look at the new one!"

How do gauge a market dominated by dopamine and a mob who thinks that naked negativity and clichés are the same thing as intelligence and insight?

I get to use one for a week this month. Meanwhile, I don't know if it's garbage or fabulous or in between. Or just a good phone for the money.

No idea. And I'm a potential (not pretend) buyer for this year.

Hate the notch. But not enough to care. Hate it missing the headphone jack. But not enough to care.

QuantumFoam

You might notice the notch for a day or so. Then you'll see the screen and forget - when's the last time the rear view mirror in your car destroyed your driving experience?
They provide a headphone adapter (with built-in DAC) if it is important to you. But Plantronics sells bluetooth headphones with mic at a price so low it made my jaw drop (S5XX17, I think I got them as S500). Best bass response I've ever heard in small form factor headphones. Let us know what you think.

EarlyMon

As I said, I hate the notch but I don't hate it enough to care - meaning it's not a gating factor for me. The dongle has users saying that it's better than the Pixel's and Qualcomm has just demonstrated how to build better ones so it's not a gating factor either. I wouldn't mind being able to buy something better that I can take from phone to phone. I prefer regular headphones but I also own USB-C headphones. That's what I mean by not enough to care.

A lot of people like it despite the fact that it's nowhere near perfect. In fact, as a digital photo sample it probably sucks. Nonetheless it's a pretty cool picture. Taken 7 years ago with an HTC Evo 4G. The thing is to just take pictures and work with what you got.

It has to be faster than me, have a decent looking screen, sound excellent for both parties on a call because it is a PHONE, have great battery life and be fair enough for the price and features.

Surprisingly, the phones every year that cut it is somehow always a short list for me.

I don't know what people think stereo speakers on a phone are supposed to sound like but they ought to be as good or better than the HTC M8 with the hk firmware mod. I've had to give up on that too so I have a JBL Charge+ and that's even better but less convenient.

The Razer sounds interesting from the reviews but - not $700 interesting.

QuantumFoam

That's a nice pic. Good balance, good color mix, and yeah, it's not as crisp as a camera picture, but I do consider the time. I've got similar pictures from the Palm Pre from the zoo here that are about the same (June 2009), but you framed it better (and I used to do weddings for a living, so I know whereof I speak)
Essential checks all your boxes - and the reason I'm responding to your "I don't care" items is for other people, and to give you some input from someone who has been using the phone since it came out.
I'm never anywhere I could use speakers on the phone. I do have a lot of bluetooth speakers with mics, so I can blow out a small room and do calls. If you want the best of the current bunch, look at the Harmon Kardon Mini Esquire power bank with speakerphone and stereo. It's frightening how well it performs on all 3 sides.

EarlyMon

Thanks all around!

EarlyMon

I was just checking out the Essential Resources app. Back when aspect ratios started changing in 2010 we only needed to install Spare Parts to get apps working properly, full screen. Too bad those days are gone.

Sorry can't agree. He needed real QA and actually coming out with real flagship features (and basic features) from quality dev teams that work and compete with the big boys. What he came out with was what seemed like a vanity project.

Marketing is what can happen successfully when all of the above are done.

Dominic81

That phone isn't terrible but it brings nothing special, and it's missing 2 features many people want:

-headphone jack
-water resistant

And the notch is terrible imho

Rony

I give you water resistant. But headphone jack is not coming back. So get over it.
But I can live without water resistant and pay less then half for phone the same quality.

Anthony

Lack of a headphone jack made this phone a deal breaker.

QuantumFoam

I had already switched to bluetooth headphones before this anyway. And like Rony said. I'm not sure why people care about water resistant so much (not arguing, just don't understand). What exactly would make it special to you? It's got all the features I would expect from a cell phone (I'd like wireless charging, but it's not a deal breaker, and that era seems to be ending). And I've been laughing since the iPhone X came out - the Essential notch was the worst thing EVAR, but Apple came out with a phone with a notch at least 5 times larger, and they got praise for their ground-breaking "new" design. If you've never touched one, go find one. Hold it. Feel the titanium and ceramic. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Anthony

I think Water resistance is pretty much table stakes at this point for all Flagships. I still don't view it as a necessity but when even Apple has it, it's expected from all Flagships. I personally have invested money into wired headphones so that's not something I'm willing to let go of. The notch and wireless charging I'm somewhat indifferent to.

QuantumFoam

Water resistance you may be right - when I grew up, you just didn't do things like drop your watch in a toilet etc, so my standards may be different (still no argument, just not me. I was more interested in the drop test down a flight of concrete steps - nothing on the first try, so they threw it on the second try, and I think that did some damage. And that's what I would do).
They do include a wired adapter with built-in DAC, and it works great for me. That should outlast my earbuds and my high-end Sennheisers.
They notch you really do forget fast. Wireless charging is a "nice to have" but battery life is good, and charging overnight is good enough to get through the following day. I don't think I've ever dropped below 20%

Semianonymous

No one drops their phone in a toilet. Rain, sink water and small children/animals are why waterproofing is increasingly a standard feature.

h2oflyer

Interesting how opinions change...when Sony introduced water resistance most thought it a useless gimmick. Then the copiers included it and now it's a standard we can't live without.

Rain is handled by splash resistance, which the Essential has.

bloop

Same thing with wireless charging, it's been around for years and no one cared, but now all of a sudden everyone is saying it's a key feature and that metal phones suck because they don't support it. The community is weird.

h2oflyer

Not really weird....just trying to impress everyone with their limited vision and very important preferences...they just end up following the sheep ahead.

Lars Jeppesen

I use my phone in the pool every day.

Dominic81

I'm an outdoor person. Water resistance isn't even a question for me.

elko

I might of actually bought one if they had given a discount of the 360 camera full retail price instead of the camera which I have no want or need for.

Jeffrey Ketcher

Get it from sprint. I ordered mine and it ended up costing me a total of only $145 to pay off the phone and sprint is running a side promo on it that if you order it you activate it and register to receive the 360 camera for free. If you pay it off at once like i did, you can contact sprint and have it sim unlocked and then cancel service and keep the phone to use elsewhere

Dave Cappello

I see nothing at all wrong with this phone. Stock Android, plenty fast, 128gb of storage. does everything well. Updates are coming at quick intervals. I have had all of the Nexus and Pixel phones prior. I took a flyer on the Essential for the $399 plus 360 camera cyber Monday sale. Couldn't be happier. I returned my Pixel 2 XL. While the pixel clearly has better google integration, better camera, and the AI apps are very cool when I compared the two phones I couldn't justify paying more than twice the price for the pixel. A lot of people are complaining about the camera on the Essential. Works fine for me. If I'm going to an event where I know I'm going to be taking some pictures, I bring a camera. I must be old school thinking a camera is still something worth owning. My phone camera I don't have such high expectations for. It is a bonus.

Eddie Harrington

I bought mine at the same time and agree 100%. Other than a few very minor issues I am absolutely thrilled with this phone.

Chad

Agreed. I'm an essential owner today after disappointment with my pixel 2 xl order. Google dropped the ball with that screen and essential seems to be the manufacturer that is making the most out of it. Even if the sales numbers are a disappointment, the number of new customers that are using their phone instead of Google's has to be a measure of success.

Anthony

Just curious would you have brought the Essential phone at its original price of $700?

Dave Cappello

If the price was still at $699 I would have stayed with the Pixel 2 xl. The Pixel is a cut above in performance. Google has it better tuned, and the AI integration is awesome. One requirement for me personally is stock, or near stock Android. Essential did the right thing cutting the price. It is a premium phone, at a not premium price. As a start up they need to make inroads, this is one way to do so. Competition in this space is welcome :-)

Yup hard for folks to admit they bought the equivalent of a bag of flaming poop on the doorstep

h2oflyer

Try it ...you may like it

southerndinner

nah he won't, it's trash

h2oflyer

Are these posters your heros. Think of something original to say ... it's not that hard....think. Don't be a follower, you're embarrassing yourself.

blindexecutioner

I'd own one if not for the design choice of the display. I really hope they get rid of that in their next model.

Ken Mitchell

The display is glorious. Are you talking about that little notch for the camera? It's almost unnoticeable in use. I _don't_ notice it, unless I'm looking for it.

Pkmmte

Have you had any touch screen issues with the Essential so far? Negative reviews regarding unresponsive screens are the only reason I haven't bought one.

Dave Cappello

I have not had one problem with any performance of this phone. no lag, no unresponsive screen, nothing. I believe the issues you refer to were fixed in updates that were released prior to me purchasing. The other dings on the camera afaik were more feature / sw related than related to the cameras themselves. In the few weeks I have had this phone I think 3 camera updates have been pushed. It seems to me as though Essential is very responsive. I highly recommend this phone.

nate_CO

I had touch latency issues with mine, even on the latest software update (a few weeks ago). Took it back to Best Buy as these issues shouldn't exist with stock android. I loved the hardware but between touch latency issues ( and overall UI jittery-ness) and that poor camera (even with gcam installed) were enough reasons to send it back. I'm hopeful their second iteration will fix these issues.

Luciano

This is still an extremely invalid method of determining device sales. Example, Samsung Pay only has between 10 and 50 million devices listed on the Play Store, even though we know there are far more than that number of devices out there with Samsung Pay. We know from a prior article from ARS earlier this year that the method was off in that instance by at least 500%. With the number of devices that support Samsung Pay and came with it pre-installed, we're probably off by at least 100%, if not 200%.

bill875

Agreed! This article is downright irresponsible. Not much different from the lies that a perpetrated by the news media every day.

Geography

Yup.

Ikhsan

Samsung Pay is a different story altogether because Samsung does not release them in all countries where they sell the phones

Madis

So you think the phone doesn't come with a camera app?

Luciano

No, I think we installs number is an extremely inaccurate method if determining sales. And I think that for the dame reason it was wrong earlier this year and for the same reason it is incorrect for other devices.

Garrett Johnson

I think you forgot to edit the copy and paste of why the install numbers might be inflated

EarlyMon

Not that it's going to change anyone's mind but that badge means from 50,000 to 99,999.

It's a watermark, not a counter. Next step if I'm not mistaken is 100k.

Rod

It says it reached the 50k mark some days ago.

EarlyMon

Yeah. The Play Store doesn't update that in real time at all unfortunately. That number can be older than you think and almost a certainty that it is.

(Where "almost a certainty" is a term used to describe what most people call a certainty.)

So "some days ago" only means just that.

burkett375

if they had another cyber monday sale, i'd buy it...

JOSE GONZALES

Well they came late to the game. I'm been Android fan since day one, the essential phone didn't bring anything ground breaking plus overpriced with an awkward design.

Rony

Awkward design?
Disagree! One of the best design of all phones.

JOSE GONZALES

That's your opinion... So do you disagree on the price too?

Rony

And that's your option.
And over priced? At beginning, yes. Now? 500? Very very good price for the phone. You pay more then double for pixel 2. I Think it's same as pixel 2. Except camera. Willing to pay more then double for 10-20% better camera? Be my guest.
I am not. Everything else is better on ph1 then pixels
And btw material used is 100% more premium them pixels phones.

bill875

And at $155 from Sprint earlier this month, it was a no-brainer. I bought two for my kids and a spare "Just in case" as it was cheaper than buying insurance. Throw in the free 360 cameras and it was a home run for sure.

JOSE GONZALES

Yes at that price was a steal for sure.

Rony

Haha. Ya, that's definitely home run! Good for you. And maybe you will fall in love with it as well after few tries. 😏

JOSE GONZALES

Even though I like Google I won't buy the pixel because they went exclusive with Verizon so I won't pay full price but it's the best Android phone you can get. The essential phone as pure Android as they state you're not guarantee will get the latest update from Google.

Rony

Actually it's guaranteed. They said at least 2 years. And actually history proved it. They updated security after few days after Google. Beta oreo is out. How much more you want? And please do not say they can go out of business. They're backed over 1 billion dollars. It's not gonna happen.

JOSE GONZALES

History? they just released this phone,are you crazy? and I honestly wouldn't be surprise if they do go out of business.

Rony

No I'm not crazy. I'm talking about a half year after releasing the phone. Updates are coming very fast. And I am expecting to be continued.
No they won't go out of business. As I said they are backed up by 1 billion bucks and if you knew how it works you couldn't make suck a comment.
Nobody.will cash it out and run. It doesn't work that way. So I am super confident they will not go out of business.
Other things is if ph2 or 3 will sell in low numbers then I would be worried. But till them, no worries.

blindexecutioner

That hideous notch is not a good design. It looks like crap.

Rony

It's your opinion. That's all.

m-p{3}

The decided to sell their device exclusively through Telus in Canada. I'm not interested in switching carrier, and since my current phone is subsidized by my current carrier I would actually lose money until I'm doing paying the remaining months I have left on it. Way too much trouble for many customers. IMO they artificially restricted themselves by doing that.

If I hadn't already bought my pixel 2 I probably would've gotten one at that lower price. The camera and lack of waterproofing may have made me questioning that choice but it's a really beautiful phone stock android phone.

Gfame103

Correction: 49,999 in sales because I took that piece of shit back. But to be fair the phone had the best hardware I ever seen or held on a phone. The software and camera were a failure.

xphyle

Your loss. You should have waited. They've fixed the camera and bugs and OREO is out!

Gfame103

My loss? I took the phone back a few days ago. It was horrible, even after the updates. Went and picked up a Pixel 2 XL. Worth every penny.

Amazing some of the rabid Essential defenders on here, facts just have no impact

h2oflyer

Why do you keep repeating yourself

xphyle

Horrible camera? Lol. Now I know you've never owned it. It's great!

Gfame103

So everyone's lying? Even the HDR+ mod from XDA could not fix it.

xphyle

When the phone was released, the camera sucked. The hardware itself was always fine. They've had MANY updates to the camera app that fixed almost all of the problems. They've added portrait mode, they've fixed the camera app bugs/crashing/slowness, they've removed the image compression allowing for larger file sizes with greater details, etc. And they continue to improve it and add features. The last update was a few days ago.

southerndinner

Enjoy the fact that your phone's company will be bankrupt within months and you won't see a single major software update after Oreo

xphyle

LMAO! Bankrupt! FUNNY! Clearly you have no ideo who Andy Rubin is or the current capital situation over at Essential. They're already working on the PH-2!

This is a BS argument-
You don't need to become the POTUS to complain about the POTUS.

Zsolt V

You are right. I stopped complaining about the POTUS in Jan 2017

Rony

You can complain only about design and features it has or doesn't.
Nothing more. Otherwise your complaint is BS.
No right to complain about something you have no idea how it works.

MadMartigan

You'd expect people who don't like a phone to own it?

Do you often spend a lot of money on something you don't like?

...have you seen the Pixel articles?? This is the Android Community; where, if it's popular but you don't have it, you have to winge on about it incessantly. If it weren't for that, there'd be no comments.

h2oflyer

Exactly...

webdev452

confirmation bias much?
such a tired argument

h2oflyer

Yeah...you just keep dribbling on

JOSE GONZALES

Don't need to own it to know it's ugly. You comment is lame.

Rony

hahahaha. you and 3 more people dont like it. i guess its ugly then .

balcobomber25

hahahaha. You and 49,999 people do like it. The other 230 million smartphone users in the US don't like it.

Rony

waaaw. nothing else to say. you got it all figure out. you should be president .

balcobomber25

waaaw. You have yet to figure it out.

balcobomber25

That's the problem. Very few people bought it, the rest complain about it.

bill875

We recently bought 4 PH-1's during the Sprint $5 Lease promotion for a total of less than $160 for each device, with NDA shipping. It was a no-brainer and the kids are going to go nuts when they open their very first cell phone this Christmas morning.

renGek

I have an essential phone and I never downloaded their camera app nor does the phone ever tries to get you to download it so I wouldn't be surprise if many have skipped it.

nate_CO

Their camera app comes pre-loaded on the phone. So, you have it... and it stays up to date in the play store.

Ken Mitchell

That's a crying shame, because it has been - in the 10 days since I received it - a wonderful phone. Crystal clear display, and after all the camera updates, a very good camera - and the 360 camera is spectacular.

If you've been on the fence about this, go for it. I wanted one since day one, but couldn't afford it until that amazing Amazon Cyber-Monday sale.

Anthony

What's your favorite part of the phone? And how's the battery life?

Jay

A very good camera? Compared to..?

the_secret

This is not accurate, I have both colors of the Essential phone. I have never downloaded that app. This is a broad assumption.

Ryan

I'd buy the ocean depth one if it ever comes out, but I really doubt it will at this point

TechGuy22

Being generous

BehemothPL

49,000 during last Black Friday fire sale.

Rick Bates

I have an Essential, and the phone is pretty damn good. It's fast and screen is beautiful. Now my wife hates the selfies but main camera has not let us down. My only gripe is the speaker is not as loud as I would like. I was not expecting this phone to be anything near an iPhone or Galaxy but I am very happy with it.

I think marketing is the blame for dismal sales. We all know very little was done to push this phone to the masses, so expecting great sales would be far fetched to say the least.

Another Scott

I too got one of the phones and 360 cameras during the great Amazon sale. I haven't had time to even take it out of the box yet (life gets in the way).

The camera downloads are certainly proportional to the number of phones sold, but it's certainly not an upper limit.

FWIW.

Cheers,
Scott.

istian

I honestly don't understand why this phone is being constantly trashed on... It's pretty much the same thing you'd get at any other $850 phone, but now for $500... It's tempting, I'm just waiting for the new color launches.

David Du

Same here

istian

And everyone saying "This first release phone, from a first release company isn't perfect in its first few weeks of release" pretty much answered their own assumptions. The company released updates to the majority of the issues as well.

roph

The headphone jack and microSD slot are both missing. Phones that cost under ten times less have these basic features.

I'll give you the headphone jack missing is annoying but all the Essential phones come with 128GB of storage. I'm sure you could run out of space but I feel like you'd have to try under normal circumstances.

nate_CO

nope. I owned 2 of them (original pre-order and then a best buy fire sale) and both had awful cameras (gcam app did make it better but not by much) and touch issues / overall jitteryness. I didn't get any of that with $850 phones I've owned this year (S8, Note 8, Pixel 2 XL)

istian

Again, first year phone, from first year company in first few months of release. They are still doing a lot right though.

nate_CO

yes, they are. don't get me wrong... I'm rooting for the company and will likely buy their second offering. But from my experience, what you get with PH-1 isn't worth it, even at $400-$500. I'd rather pay the extra to get better performance and a much better camera.

Scr-U-gle

Sounds like you bought four crap phones, if you’d bought a good phone you wouldn’t need four!

Semianonymous

Inferior camera
No waterproofing
No AMOLED
No Jack
No guarantee that someone won't pull a nextbit, buy essential and kill support
It's a great upper midranger, but you're delusional for putting it up there with other flagships. They should have targeted the 500 zone from the get go.

Inb4 "I don't want these things", that's not point.

istian

Camera's been addressed and is being addressed almost weekly, no phone has waterproofing, only water resistance. AMOLED is a new phone standard and has it's perks/disadvantages, but having that as a standard is ridiculous when majority companies were running LED/IPS panels for years. Every phone next year won't have the 3.5mm jack, lets admit it's the future of phone design even if we all disagree. And to be honest, any company could belly-up on their products and pull support tomorrow for all we know. It's all about being realistic and trashing on this phone isn't being realistic. It's all dumb preferences we prefer, but not really need.

webdev452

for a real flagship with with flagship prices Amoled is pretty much a requirement these days...all the stuff Semianonymous said is true. And don't forget to add that it is nearly unrepairable (lowest score possible on ifixit). At best the phone is a fatally flawed mid ranger.

istian

True, yeah, but again, for $500 the cost to fix the device, downtime and trouble you're around spending/inconveniencing $500 anyways.

Not really. If a consumer plans on keeping this phone for 2-3 years and the company folds next year because of poor sales, that customer is left with a phone without a warranty or support.

istian

Everyone said the same thing about every other phone/product ever released, by anyone, ever. They already said there was a 2 year window of support with the additional overlapping year of security updates for this device. And being that this device isnt carrier update dependent out the gate, you're more likely to get that support/update before anyone else, like every other stock android device.

balcobomber25

"Everyone said the same thing about every other phone/product ever released"

Keep trying. A 2 year window only exists if the company is still in business. If Essential folds tomorrow that 2 year window goes with it.

Φώτης

Why didn't they try European market as well?

Daishi

Might as well. They aren't selling very well here...

Lars Jeppesen

Yep, had they released in Europe, I would have bought one. It's too late now.

I would have bought one, but it doesn't have a headphone jack. And yes, that is a big fucking deal to me. Dongles don't cut it, I already have to carry and not loose a lot of shit, so a thick chunky phone can probably fit one if the world's thinnest phone can fit one and a quad DAC

AndroidZNinja

* between 50000 and 100000

roebling

If I understood the article, the writer is counting Essential 360 camera sales, not PH-1 sales. My WAG? Four phones are sold for every camera.

I actually did that as well. The Stock camera seems to take slightly cleaner images in regular light but in low light the Google Modded camera seems to be superior. I stick to the normal camera most of the time but the Google camera absolutely comes in handy in some cases.

roebling

Sounds good. I'd read that Essential worked on the stock app after the PH-1 came out & improved it. I'll give it a try.

ast00

I would say this is the number of people who actually updated the app. If you bought the phone and the latest version of the app was pre installed, it wouldn't show up as a download.
There probably is a bit more of these phones around.

xphyle

Proud owner! AMAZING DEVICE! And for comparison I also own a Galaxy S8+ and an LG V30 (which are sitting in a drawer). Don't listen to the haters. This device is built like a tank. Feels so good in the hand. Top of the line hardware. Software updates have fixed all the issues including the camera. And it's got OREO!

Jeremy

What about Oreo is so much better than Nougat? Just curious.

blindexecutioner

More bugs? I'm not sure either. On my Pixel I am still on Nougat because I hate the bright notification background and the persistent notifications that Oreo introduced.

K77bkny

I went back to Nougat, Oreo was a big fest..

Matt

They should make it available for purchase in the UK & Europe. That would (have) help(ed).

The Calm Critic

Probably just lose the "OG notch", thicken up the batt to 4000mAh for PH-2 and get out to international markets.

That'll at least double the 50k I'd reckon.

Allan

serves them right for making it a single carrier exclusive in Canada. Idiots.

nate_CO

2 of those were mine. and both were returned

Heiro78

I made a pass on it when considering it for my wife. I went with the LG G6 because it was cheaper ($120 with sprint) and my wife wouldn't be able to deal with that.

So in other words, 50k is the ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM number of units they sold.

Gregg Long

I'd have been mildly interested if it had included Qi charging and a headphone jack. Those are essential features for me. Screen still smallish though as far as I am concerned.

Aegeuss

If only this phone would be sold abroad.

Mike pHuckabee

I'd be interested in buying an Essential if the camera was better. It usually take new manufacturers several years to get their cameras pumping out quality photos. From the samples I've seen, Essential has a long way to go

WalkerPAranger

If the industry was lead by the commentors on this story there would be 2 phones and 2 companies that make them.
They're trying.
The phone has improved.
It will probably continue to improve.
They'll make a second phone and it'll be better than the first phone.
As usual, most of you won't like it.

For a start-up company those are not terrible numbers. Although Mr. Rubin should have known better for a few things. The camera could have been much better and the release price. No headphone jack, wireless, ip68 instead of ip53. Hopefully, if their still around for the ph-2 improvements will be made. I do hope they survive, the competition is always welcomed!

1966CAH

Just wondering, but has anyone actually heard of this phone out in the "real world?" If it weren't for being an AP reader or seeing it on Ars, I would not even know this phone existed. Kind of hard to sell many phones to the average consumer that way...

Get the price down to $150 on the used market, and then I might (big "if") be able to consider looking past its ugly rounded-corner screen and reportedly poor radio performance.

Stark

Is this means even OnePlus 5T has more sales than Essential Phone?

Alhanalem

The reality is 50k downloads doesn't mean 50k sales, becuase not everybody will download something that isn't already included on the phone. In fact many people never even visit the store unless they have to.